Metaphone.



PATENTED MAY 5, 1903.

P. s. HERRMANN.

METAPHONE. APPLIOATLON FILED JUNE 21, 19Q2.

10 MODEL.

JMW

UNITED STATES Patented May 5, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

M ETAPHONE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 726,918, dat d May 5,1903.

Application filed June 21,1902. Serial No. 112,603. (No model.)

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FLORIAN S. HERRMANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tacony, in the city and county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Instrument to be Known as the Metaphone, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the speaking trumpet or horn used to throw the sound of the human voice to a great distance and also to the hearing trumpet or horn used to concentrate the waves of soundcoming from afar so as to becomeaudible. Its objectis to unitethe principle of the speaking and the hearing trumpet or horn in one simple instrument for use in communicating at a distance. This object is attained through a movable part acting on the waves of sound within the horn, also known as the megaphone, by means of which the direction of the waves of sound can instantly be changed and the instrument converted from a speaking to a hearing trumpet or horn, and vice versa.

The word meta in the name metaphone denotes change. The principle and the method of producing this change in the speaking trumpet or horn is the subject of this invention.

In constructing the metaphone a horn is made as the present speaking trumpet or horn. Near the top or mouthpiece is placed a movable reflector, deflector, or transmitter of sound. This movable part if moved aside allows the horn to be used as a speaking trumpet or horn, but when in place reflects, deflects, or transmits the concentrated waves of sound gathered from the wider end of the horn and leads the same to the ear.

The accompanying drawings show the principle of the metaphone.

Figure I represents the metaphone as a hearing-horn with a movable reflector of sound in place; Fig. II, the same as a speaking-horn With the reflector thrown out. Fig. III is a sectional view of the sound-conveying tubes of this form. Fig. IV represents the metaphone as a hearing-horn with a movable deflector of sound in place, and Fig. V the same with a movable transmitter of sound in place.

In Figs. I, II, and III, R is a movable concave reflector of sound. This it in place refleets the waves of sound coming from the larger end of the horn and concentrates the same at the focus F, from where it is led through the movable tube 0 and flexible or adjustable tube E to the ear. By pressing the key K the reflector Rand tube 0 are thrown out of the horn, but return when the key is relieved. By pressiugor relieving the key the horn is at will a speaking or a hearing horn.

In the form of the metaphoneshown in Fig. IV the sound gathering from the wider end of the horn when used as a hearing-horn is deflected by the movable plate D and conveyed through the bend end to the ear. This movable deflector may be a plate, as shown in the drawing, to be opened or closed by the key K, or it may be a disk turning on a pivot within the horn. V

In the third modification of the metaphone (shown in Fig. V) the alternation or change within" the horn is produced by a movable transmitter of sound. This transmitter T is drawn out of the horn when used as a speaking trumpet or horn by the tube or arm 0. It is composed of a vibrating diaphragm and an air-chamber opening into the tube 0. The

waves of sound concentrating in the horn from the wider end when used as a hearing-horn are transmitted by the diaphragm to the airchamber and from there led through the tubes 0 and E to the ear.

The described methods and the arrangement of parts may be varied, but the underlying principle remains the same.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a megaphone, a horn provided with a mouthpiece and an earpiece in proximity to each other, a movable deflector therein adapted to deflect sound-waves into the earpiece and close the mouthpiece when in one position and adapted to leave the mouthpiece unobstructed when in another position and means outside of said horn for operating said deflector.

FLORIAN S. I-IERRMANN Witnesses: I

W. SOUTH, JOSEPH HERRMANN. 

